


How They Fly

by AgentStannerShipper



Category: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Afterlife, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fluff, Star Trek: Picard Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23877943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentStannerShipper/pseuds/AgentStannerShipper
Summary: Data wakes up from a simulation. Or rather, he doesn't wake up. So perhaps this is still a dream.
Relationships: Data/Tasha Yar
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	How They Fly

**Author's Note:**

> It's not much, but I had some things I needed to get out of my system after the Star Trek: Picard finale. And I like the idea of an older Tasha, finally free of her burdens and able to be softer. It's a cliche, so sue me. The death is thematically important but I needed my "happily ever after" to cope.
> 
> Title, also a cliche, from "Blue Skies" because if Star Trek is going to keep dragging it up, so am I. Go listen to it and cry with me please, I'm feeling things again.

When Data opened his eyes, the darkness was gone. The simulation had been barren. Flat. Colorless. The surfaces had little detail, and the lights were perpetually low. It had not been a dreadful existence, but there was a sense of…purgatory to it. An eternity of not-quite-life. But here, wherever here was, there was no darkness. It was not glaring, but it was bright.

A hand touched his shoulder and he turned his head, his lips parting in surprise. “Tasha?”

She was older than he had ever seen her alive, by at least a decade or two. The years suited her, adding dignity to the rounded features of her younger self. Her hair shone, curls bright as butter and gleaming under the light. A deep groove cut into her cheek, scarred over, and it curved with her smile. She slid her hand down his arm, threading their fingers together. “Welcome back.”

Slowly, he sat up. He was still in his robe, but the grey seemed more textured now, deep with blues. Tasha was in a tunic that was almost Starfleet, yellow but checkered, its high collar rising to hug her throat. There were plants in the background, lush and green, and through the window beyond Data could see nebulas swirling in reds and purples and gold.

“I am on the _Enterprise_.”

Tasha shook her head. She squeezed his hand. “Not quite, baby.”

“Baby?” He tilted his head. “A term of endearment?”

She nodded, stroking a lock of her hair back behind her ear, drawing Data’s eyes to her scar again.

“I believed Captain Picard was ending the simulation,” he said. “I do not understand why I am here.”

“He did end it. _That’s_ why you’re here.”

Data frowned, and Tasha gave him a fond smile. She covered their joined hands with her free one. “This is after.”

“After?” He looked around. They were his quarters on the _Enterprise,_ the first one, _Enterprise D_.

“You’re dead, Data. Properly mortal. Like the rest of us.”

He blinked, scanning her expression. There was no deception, only patience. Only love. “Then you are saying this is heaven?”

“Well.” Her smile took on an amused edge, and she sat back a little. “I don’t know if I’d say _that_. But it is after. Whatever that means.”

“You look older.”

“I am. I was.” Tasha touched her cheek. “The Romulans were not kind.”

“Romulans?” Sela. He tilted his head. “You were held captive by them. You conceived a daughter.”

“I promise I’ll tell you all about it later, baby,” she said. She grinned. “Unless you remember it first.”

“Why would I remember it?”

“You were here before. Just briefly, but long enough.” She wet her lips, hesitating, and then said, “This is a place for consciousness, Data. I came here twice, too. First after Armus, when I was young and frightened and still ready to fight. Then the timeline split, and I was pulled away again. I lived again. I didn’t remember. But when I came back…” She stroked the skin of his hands, her fingers warm against the bioplast. “I didn’t remember all at once. But eventually I did. Then you came, and I was so happy to see a familiar face. Happy…and sad. That it was you. That you were so young.”

Perhaps it was because he had never had a childhood, but Data had never thought of himself as young. But to hear Tasha say the words…they felt true. His life had been brief. But it had also been full.

She reached up, cupping his cheek, and Data turned into the touch on an instinct he had not known he possessed. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he said, “We had a relationship.” It was not difficult to infer. If this was Tasha, if this was real, and if he had been here before, there was only one conclusion to be drawn.

“A second chance,” Tasha nodded. “A time to do it right.”

“Do I love you?” he asked.

Tasha laughed. “I don’t know. Do you?”

Data hesitated. He searched, but his datafiles lagged. He was forced to pick through them more slowly. But the results were conclusive. “Yes,” he said at length. “I love you. I have always loved you.”

“They say the first one stays with you the most,” Tasha said. Amusement sparkled in her eyes. “And you never forget anything, do you Data? Not in the long run.”

Slowly, he nodded. He was still on a sofa, he registered, but not the recreation of Picard’s. It was his own, from a long time ago. He swung his legs gingerly over the side, and startled as a soft, warm figure rubbed against his legs. “Spot?”

Tasha scooped her up, cradling the cat in her arms. Spot rumbled, the purr echoing in the space between them. “I think she missed you too.”

Data took her from Tasha, stroking her fur. “It is good to see you again,” he whispered to the cat. Spot headbutted him, rubbing her cheek against his hand. He looked up at Tasha. “Have we always been on the _Enterprise_?”

She shook her head. “We have a home. A little place we like to go. We made it together, out of all the best things we had. But we always start here.” She stood, and beckoned him up too. Data set Spot down and followed suit. She paused at the door. “You don’t have to come with me, you know.”

He cocked his head. “I do not?”

“I’m not your guardian angel, Data. It’s not my job to shepherd you through this world. You do that yourself. And I already had you once. I would understand if you needed time. To think. To remember. I can wait.” She smiled. “I waited once before.”

Data considered. “Where would I go?”

“You could see your brother. Or old friends.”

“Lore is here?”

“Bruce is too.” Tasha’s look was unexpectedly soft. “I know there’s a lot you didn’t say. To both of them.”

“There will be time.”

“That’s true,” Tasha said. “There will be.” She bit her lip. “There is…one person who would like to meet you.”

“Oh?”

“Your daughter.”

“Lal?”

Tasha laughed. “No. Although I’m sure she’ll be pleased to see her father again. You saw Soji, through the simulation. Would you like to meet Dajh?”

Data’s eyes widened. He hesitated. “I am not her father. I did not create her.”

“But she was created from you. From your dream. And she would very much like to say hello.”

Data looked to the door. It was still closed. “Is she through there?”

“Just waiting for us to come home.”

Data looked to Tasha, then back to the door again. He nodded. “Alright. I am ready.” He paused, and then reached out. Tasha smiled, and took his hand again.

The door opened, and Data stepped through.


End file.
